Individual mounting for steerable wheels



Dec. 12, 1950 'r. B. M CORMICK 0 INDIVIDUAL MOUNTING FOR STEERABLEWHEELS Filed Jan. 17, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1

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M Inventor 7/ /743 BIY6URNIK Atmrneys Dec. 12, 1950 T. B. M CORMICKINDIVIDUAL MOUNTING FOR STEERABLE WHEELS I 2 Sheets$heet 2 Filed Jan.17, 1947 In l'eutmmoms a flaw/Em c4.

Attm'neys l atentecl Dec. 12,

sateen" vie-omission assists WHEELS' Thomas B. McCormick, Billings,Mont. Asset-asthma; 17, 194i; sfiai N6. 722,676

1 oia'isil (o1. fast- 96:2)

if isi e t on,re atesflte a' m ekim ts r the nauseatings eer ngwhens i amotor yeliicle and has afspfecial reference t'o al nvent g of eahsf o hhl iiei ms g wheels of vehic may yieldj esenfindeeend; entlyfof theother, e pveit tofthe vehicle Chas sis passing over; uneven surfaces. 7

More particularly, itis an object of themes; tion to provide a wheelmounting of extremely sirnpl iQll truction which' may he seemed? tonal'chassis, orl frarnes for yieldably, ing; the front steering? Wheelsirelatively thereto and Seth-attain wheels'rnay be turned as a unit inresponse to movenie'htfof a1 digaglinli connection and, for providingmasses foi'flpei mitting the, wheels to yield independently.relae tivelto, the frame and to'be maintained stantially in a perpendicular'plane'during their yielding Iiiovement to thereby avoidexcessive wear on thetread portions of the tires of the wheels; V i p 7 Still a furtherobject of the invention is to provide an individual yielding knee actionWheel mounting having a tie rod connection, forming a part thereof andconstructed and arranged to maintain itself at all times insubstantially the same plane relatively to the vehicle. chassis or franie whereby when a pair of said? mountings are connected by a tiev rod,the wheels supported thereby will be maintained in' alignment.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will, hereinafterbecome more fully apparent fromthe following description of thedrawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational ViewQpartIy in section showing theforwardportion of one side of the motor vehicle and with one of theresilient mountings applied thereto for supporting one of the steeringwheels of the vehicle, yieldably with respect to the vehicle chassis orframe;

Figures 2 and 3 are horizontal sectional views taken substantiallyalong'planes asQindicated by the lines 22 and 33, respectively, of,Figure 1 Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view takensubstantially along a plane as indicated by the line 4- -4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a perspective View showing the wheelinountingdetaqhedi and.i

Eigure, 5, is a view similar to Figure 1' of a li ht modified form of lthe invention.

Referring. mlQre, specifically to the drawings, with particularieferencet0 theifor'm of the iii-.- ventionas illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, Idesignates generally thewfront portion. of arhdtdn vehicle including apart of the left front fender 8 and a portion of the chassis or frame 8of the vehicle, including one end H] of the transverse front cross partthereof and which is curved upwar lyrelatively to,the frame or chassis9, adj ace'nt its inner end;

I l; and co" n'gf the" invention includes a frame; designated generally12 having an inter- ,jlhe; resilient mounting, designated generally,

mediate, psrtis 'mem mg vertically spaced; substantially parai1e1 topand bottom bar portions 1.5 and L4, respectively;between which theouter,j

f'rexendjportiongofl thef ramfe arm i is disposed.

standard 22 The'polrtionsi lBLaiidfMare integrally joined by theperpendicular frame portion l5 which extendsi betwen qorresponding endsthereof and whicliisidisposed outwardly of the free ends of theframearml I01, Bortionsl IS and i l of the ham} I 2 'arefprovidedwithaligiied openings lta ada tied to receive a" king bolt Idwhicliextends through' ia bearing portion [8 of the arm It as master;inFig'iirefil'. t i is y y 'I' e' opposite, inner end 7 of the upper barpork, terminates in anu tume framepart lei forming aconnectiori'het'ween the frame portion lt and an upper frafiie portion2} ,Which is disposed substantiallyflparallel thereto and whichdepending A standard 22' extending f therethrough and'isecured totheframe arm 20, substantially in vertical alignment: withfthe kiiigibolt,H5, The

friction means rendera.il

,ffhe lower frame bar ,Hi extendsinwardly substantia y beyond'theinnerend of theupper bar 23 at its connection with the i3" and t is curveddownwardly to substantially conformto the curvature of the frame arm in.The: inner lower end'of" the fraine bar It, which forms the oppositeen'd of said frame l2, termi na tes'in an eye 24, diifiosedtransversflyof said armand forming a pivot for the inner end of a e: 2 lw s be s eni Fi u e e s. constitutes n enl n at n ubstanti an ular frame,preferably of cir cular cross section,

having one of the shorter. sides thereof jonrnaled in theeye t i and theother, complementary side thereofj ournaled in an. We 26 formed in thelower endof a plate 2?, The plate 2? forms a wheel bracket and has astub axle secured thereto and o ec n ostw rdl t frqm a s a mm which afront ground engaging wheel 2910.1: the vehicle is journaled. The plateor bracket His provided with an eye 30 at itsupper end corresponding totheeye 2G for journaling an end of alever 3i, of the same constructionas the lever 25, and differing therefrom only in that the lever 3! is ofa length less" than that of the lever 25.

The frame portion I3 is provided with upstandingearstZ at its'side'edgesand which ar'edi'sposed inwardly of the king pin I6 and which areprovided with aligned apertures 33 for journaling the pposite end of thelever 3|. Said ears 32 is preferably, provided with antil therefromrelatively to the chassis 9.

may be connected at their upper ends by a cross member 35 and obviouslythe ends of the lever 3| journaled in the ears 32 may, if desired, beconnected and function as an actuator for any conventional type of shockabsorber.

A plate 36 extends between the longer sides of the lever 25 and hasrolled end portions 31 secured thereto. The plate 36 forms a perch forone end of an expansion coil spring 33, the opposite end of which seatsagainst the under side of the frame portion l4 and, as seen in Figures 1and 2, the spring 38 is disposed in substantially axial alignment withthe king bolt l5 and functions to urge the levers 25 and 3E and thewheel bracket 2'1 downwardly to provide a yieldable support between thewheel 29 and the chassis arm 10.

As best seen in Figures 2, 3, and 5, the frame portion M is providedwith an integral lever arm 39 which projects transversely from one sideedge thereof in a direction rearwardly with respect to the chassis e andwhich is disposed inwardly of the king pin it. The arm 39 is providedwith an eye 45 adjacent its rear, free end which is adapted to beconnected pivotally to one end of a tie rod "it which extendstransversely therefrom and which is adapted to be connected in a similarmanner to a similarly yieldable mounting i i, not shown, of the otherfront steering wheel of the vehicle. The lever arm 39 is also providedwith a laterally projecting extension 42, intermediate of the endsthereof, and which extends inwardly The extension 42 is provided with aneye or opening 43 adjacent its free end to pivotally engage the forwardend of a draglink 44 which may be connected at its opposite rear end toany conventional type of steering mechanism.

From the foregoing, it will be readily apparent that a rearward movementof the draglink 44 will turn the frame 12 in a clockwise direction asseen in Figures 2 and 3 for turning the wheel 29 in the same direction,and the other front wheel of the vehicle, not shown, will be turned in aconventional manner through the tie rod connection 4! in the samedirection and to the same extent. Conversely, a forward movement of thedraglink 3% will cause the frame I2 and wheel 29 to be turned in acounterclockwise direction on the king bolt 56. The spring 38 willfunction to permit the wheel 22 to yield upwardly relatively to thechassis 9 and independently of the other wheels of the vehicle inpassing over an uneven surfacesuch as a hump in a roadway and the levers25 and M will maintain the wheel bracket #2? in substantiall a verticalposition during the pivotal movement of said levers so as to'maintainthe wheel 29 in substantially an upright position to prevent excessivewear on the tread of the pneumatic tire thereof.

The connection of the head light standard 22 to the frame arm 26 willcause the headlight 21' to function as a dirigible head light forturning in unison with the frame i2 and the wheels 29 and in the samedirection so that the head lights 2! will be disposed to face in thedirection that the vehicle is moving.

Since all of the yielding movements of the resilient mounting H isaccomplished by the levers 25 and 3! swinging relatively to the frame 52and carrying the'wheel bracket 21 and wheel 29 therewith, the lever arm39 will maintain its 7 relative position and spacing with respect to thecomplementary arm, not shown, of the other r 4 front wheel mounting sothat the front wheels of the vehicle will be maintained at all times inalignment and since the frame I2 is not subject to any yielding movementwith respect to the chassis s or chassis arm 10, due to the location ofthe spring 38 with respect to the king bolt It, so that there will be norelative movement of the head light or its standard toward or away fromthe chassis arm l0.

Obviously, the head light 2! could be mounted within the fender 8 withthe lens portion thereof disposed for swinging movement relatively to aforwardly facing opening of the standard.

Figure 6 illustrates a slightly modified form of the mounting,designated generally II and differing only from the mounting H in thatthe frame 82' thereof is not connected to a head light andaccordinglythe portions l9 and 20 are omitted and the portion I 3' terminates inupstanding ears 32', similarly disposed to the cars 32 and in which theinner end of the lever 3| is journaled. As the operation of the mountingl is otherwise identical to the mounting H, a further descriptionthereof is considered unnecessary.

through the axle end and said spaced portions and swivelly connectingthe frame to the axle end, a wheel bracket plate, a stub axle secured toand projecting outwardly from the wheel bracket plate on which saidfront steering wheel is journaled, means pivotally connected to spacedparts of the wheel bracket plate and to said spaced frame portions aboveand below the axle end and extending across the axis of the kingbolt,

and yieldably supporting the wheel bracket plate on the frame formovement in substantially a vertical plane relatively to the frame andfront axle end, said frame including an integral headlight supportingportion disposed above said spaced frame portions to which the headlightis secured and on which the headlight is mounted to swivel about an axissubstantially in alignment with the axis of the kingbolt whereby theheadlight will swing in unison with said front steering wheel.

THOMAS B. MCCORMICK.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 967,621 DonahooAug. 16, 1910 7 1,344,192 'Vandenburgh et a1. June 22 1920 1,649,661Burnfiel Nov. 15, 1927 2,066,552 7 Best Jan. 5, 1937 2,066,553 Best Jan.5, 1937' 2,305,820 Wagner Dec. 22, 1942 2,357,370 Wilfert Sept. 5, 1944

